iMac Retina update

[james_de_h]

<p>Posted on 4th November that I was thinking of getting a new iMac 27in Retina. Took the plunge and using it now. Plus points are the screen for TEXT. Really sharp and clear and just so much easier on the eye. As for images, they are better in that you can pick out more detail. The green frog Mac screensaver, for example, has a hair running under its foot. You can spot that on the Retina screen but I never noticed it before. Downside? Well if you want to achieve anything with just 8GB of RAM think on. It will see LR and PS bang their heads and slow up. The cooling fans run full time from startup. I am used to a Mac that just whispers. The new touchpad is a funny thing - turn off the Force Touch and it is much better. The new keyboard is noisy and clacky. And now to performance. I am comparing a new Skylake 4 GHz Intel Core i7, 24 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 ram and R9 M395X 4096 MB GPU with a 2009 i5 model with 16GB of slower ram and a 512mb GPU. Th new should smoke the old right? Well no, it doesn't even with a fast nominal 500GB SSD doing the lifting and storing. For PS and LR, my old Mac holds its own. It is a bit slower and gets pretty warm but it is silent. This new machine went nuts installing my LR catalogue. Thought it would take off. But it remained cool to the touch. So my verdict after a couple of days is old iMac 27in warriors, do not despair. For photo work your old machines are still viable and not out classed. Sorry if there are spelling errors etc. This new keyboard likes a firm key press. Think I will nick my old keyboard back!</p>

[jim_a]

<p>Hi James. Funny timing on your post. My iMac Retina configured the same as your with a 512GB SSD arrived today. Upgrading from a 2009 Mac Pro. I'll be disappointed if I don't see a big leap in performance with LR.</p>

[AJG]

<p>I also recently bought a 27" iMac to replace a 2008 24" iMac, which slowed to a crawl when I last updated the operating system in order to update to Photoshop CC. I maxed out the RAM to 32 gig instead of the 8 that is standard, Photoshop is 4-5 times faster than it was, and I no longer get to stare at the spinning beach ball of death for minutes at a time. As for noise, it seems about the same or a little quieter than my old one, but of course, that one is 7 1/2 years old and has seen daily use. As for heat, it seems to run cooler than my old one also. If I were you, I would try adding more RAM--it's cheap and you can do it yourself.</p>

[solamnus]

<p>I also bought that 27 inch( 5K) Imac with a 1 TB hard drive , 16 GB memory and a good AMD card installed. I was not blown away by the speed and performance of the image. It is fairly silent in my estimation and the screen is gorgeous to use. But the power of it when editing etc is not anything spectacular. Everything works fine most of the time but was also expecting it even more smooth of the whooping price i payed.<br>

Still, it was a lot for the screen that i bought it, and for editing and gaming its really nice in my opinion.<br>

/Martin.</p>

[james_de_h]

<p>I knew 8GB of RAM would not be enough but did not want to pay any more to Apple for ram that I could slot in for a lot less. Added and extra 16GB so 24 in all. This morning I took just over 100 RAW images and did the usual download using a USB 3.0 card reader. A bit faster than on my old USB 2.0 mac. Then the second card would not read. That's a first. Got round by wiring up the camera direct. Just check, shut down and reboots. First CF card read fine, but not th second. Did the usual swapping etc. but it seems this new machine only like to rad once card and the says no to a second. Now to LR import. Slow. My old machine took its tim but did the job. This nw one was the sam speed and told me a couple of files were corrupt. So tried radar and card in the old Mac. No problem. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. And to add insult to injury, the fans came on full time with just 90 RAW fils to upload into LR. 24GB of RAM in this machine is plenty for LR. My old Mac had 16. If things do not improve I may nd putting this back in the box.The new keyboard is driving me mad too. Have to thump th keys down - th e, as you can s dos not work! </p>

[jim_a]

<p>After getting the CC versions of LR and PS loaded on the iMac (4GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD, M395X) along with my LR catalog, in head to head test loading the same photos full screen at the same time on my 2009 2.66 GHz Mac Pro using a 256GB Samsung 830 SSD, the Mac Pro is about 1 second slower when it comes to displaying a photo that has to render to be sharp. This is only on a first loading. For cached images the Mac Pro is just as fast. Impressive for such an old Mac and a little disappointing for the iMac.</p>

<p>The screen in the iMac is what takes the most getting used to so far. Only had an hour to play with it, but the clarity and sharpness of some photos is crazy. It's like a 3D pop to some images. My old monitor is a Dell 2412M calibrated with a Spyder unit. With both monitors side by side the images on the Dell look terrible. I seldom print but I have to wonder if I need to turn down the brightness on the iMac to better match online viewing for non-retina displays.</p>

<p>In the next few days I'll import images on both machines off SD cards and note the times. </p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>I took twenty of my favorite images on a thumb drive to an Apple store to test out the new iMac 27-in screens. I was both pleased and a bit saddened. The former because I can see so much more depth within the image and the color rendition seemed super. The flip side is that image and especially post-processing flaws I never perceived on my old system (two good IPS monitors) are far more apparent now. Quality differences in lens renderings I believe I could see much more clearly. At the same time, my respect for the objectivity of a print was strongly reinforced.</p>

<p>ME</p>

[james_de_h]

<p>I am now in a better position to comment. I spoke to Apple and it transpires my Library files needed a bit of a purge. I could go into detail but I know from experience a post that lists what to do can help some but a misplaced step can also cause mayhem so will just remind Mac users of Go, option key and Library that will now appear in El Capitan. If you do not know what this means, leave well alone and get the relevant Cache files purged by someone who does or will walk you though which library to trash. I am not trying to patronise here but more prevent my lack of knowledge leading to someone accidentally purging some files the system needs. Took a couple of minutes and transformed my machine. When you do a fresh install, some files need to be removed it seems but not always. My machine now does the job fine and 100 RAW imports into LR steam along just fine. As to the fans, the Apple tech told me the fans are designed to have a high idle to keep the system cool. So where my old iMac was always warm this one stays cool - really noticeably cool. I have good hearing so pick up the fan noise but must point out it is not loud. In a busy environment you will not hear them. When the fans ramp up they die down again when the job is over. Now to the CF card. I dug out an ancient reader after a rouge card would cause the system to reject it and then tell me off for not doing it properly. Worked just fine. Strange as my Windows 10 PC had the same problem with the card but it too read fine with the old reader. So a coincidentally issue not related to this new Mac. Keyboard last. It is a bit click and clack but not if you treat it gently. I am a thumper due to using manual typewriters for years. Tap and the keys shut up. The E key went AWOL and a new keyboard delivered within 24 hours is 100%. Shame it is a US one but Apple are sending the right one for me in UK. I am now getting used to this Retina screen and realise it is actually really rather special. The colours are - well no point going on. As to my CPU and GPU upgrades I would say spend the money on a going SSD and in RAM for photo work. Video? Not my bag but my son installed Final Cut whatever on this machine and he says its performance is 'stellar'. Trouble is he filled the 500 Gig drive and now I have to purge them to an external drive before I can get back to work!</p>

[AJG]

<p>James--no offense taken, but a valuable suggestion for when a computer is running slowly for no apparent reason. <br>

Jim A.--when I first calibrated my Retina iMac with my iOne Display tool, I had to dial back the brightness from where it was out of the box. You may need to do that also.</p>